Optical wavelength division multiplexing has gradually become the standard backbone network for fiber optic communication systems. WDM systems employ signals consisting of a number of different optical wavelengths, known as carrier signals or channels, to transmit information on optical fibers. Each carrier signal is modulated by one or more information signals. As a result, a significant number of information signals may be transmitted over a single optical fiber using WDM technology.
Despite the substantially higher fiber bandwidth utilization provided by WDM technology, a number of serious problems must be overcome, such as, multiplexing, demultiplexing, and routing optical signals, if these systems are to become commercially viable. The addition of the wavelength domain increases the complexity for network management because processing now involves both filtering and routing. Multiplexing involves the process of combining multiple channels (each defined by its own frequency spectrum) into a single WDM signal. Demultiplexing is the opposite process in which a single WDM signal is decomposed into individual channels. The individual channels are spatially separated and coupled to specific output ports. Routing differs from demultiplexing in that a router spatially separates the input optical channels into output ports and permutes these channels according to control signals to a desired coupling between an input channel and an output port.
Currently, filters based on fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) are among the most popular add/drop wavelength filters used in WDM networks for the add/drop operation. Another approach in the add/drop operation is the use of an array-waveguide-grating filter. In both cases, the add/drop operation is always on, which, it is believed, is not a very effective way to utilize the optical channel. Although another 2.times.2 optical switch can be integrated with the FBG such that an add/drop operation can be controlled by a switching gate, this is fundamentally cumbersome and ineffective. Furthermore, optical switches available in the market are mostly mechanical optical switches that are not suitable in network wavelength routing because of their short lifetime (i.e., a moving motor wears out in time) and high power consumption. Although other types of optical switches are available, such as thermal optical switches, crosstalk in such switches is generally too high to permit large scale systems to be provided.